Commercial Real Estate

Nick represented a Sino-American property developer in respect of refinancing a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation-backed real estate lending facility.

Nick acted as franchisor’s counsel in its financing of a franchisee’s Montreal real estate.

Nick was RBC Capital Markets’s Quebec counsel in relation to the 2010 financing of KingSett Capital’s and AIMCo’s $2 Billion joint venture and acquisition of ING Summit Industrial Fund’s 50% interest in a portfolio consisting of more than 400 industrial facilities across Canada. Over 60 of the properties are located in Quebec, and a number of different collateral security regimes were put in place. Several were novel civil law adaptations of the common law schemes put in place elsewhere. This matter serves as a good example of the need for intellectual and legal versatility when adapting the business and legal parameters of a deal struck in one jurisdiction, to the different legal requirements and contexts applicable in another jurisdiction. Nick’s McGill Law bi-juridical training served him well.

Nick was part of the team representing the purchaser in respect of the purchase of the Cité du Multimédia complex in 2003-2004, and his work included assisting with the drafting of the purchase agreements and reviewing leases, service contracts and other ancillary due diligence. This deal was one of the largest Montreal real estate transactions at the time, and served as a good introduction for him to the legal complexities of major real estate projects.

Nick has extensive leasing experience, on both the tenant side for his corporate clients, and on the landlord side from his days at McMillan representing some of Canada’s largest commercial landlords.

Also of note, Nick has some interesting experience touching on leasing law issues. For instance:

– Nick was lead counsel to Dollarama in respect of its acquisition of portfolios of leasehold rights further to the bankruptcy of Everything for a Dollar Store in late 2012/ early 2013, and in the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) restructuring of The Bargain Shop in 2013, involving multiple locations in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

– Nick also recently represented the purchaser of land, lease rights and hard assets in the context of the bankruptcy of a Quebec agricultural concern.

– Nick represented an inventory liquidator contracted to conduct closing sales in respect of 30 retail outlets in Canada for Hart Stores, as part of the latter’s restructuring in 2011 and 2012.

Nick counselled a master loan servicer, Midland Loan Services, and its Canadian sub-servicers, in its management of securitized baskets of real estate collateral. Nick led the enforcement of security in relation to three (3) separate troubled real estate loans in Quebec in 2010 through 2012. This involved the use of different enforcement strategies.

In the construction sector, Nick represented the operating lender in respect of the hostile, debtor-induced receivership of Infrabec Construction in 2010. This was a sensitive matter due to heavy media coverage and the involvement of construction bond/insurance companies. It was also novel, due to the particularities of collecting receivables arising from public sector construction projects in Quebec. Nick and the team were successful in finding and executing viable exit opportunities for our client.